“Waiting for Gordo” Review

The play was highly entertaining. Beckett’s tramps become backbench Labour MPs, to whom Beckett is Secretary of State (for Gloom). They wait for Gordo, voting on Tonzzo’s increasingly absurd criminal justice bills.

Yesterday morning, whilst listening to the Today programme, I heard a feature on the production “Waiting for Gordo” to which listeners had contributed. “Funny”, I though, “that sounds exactly like Matthew”, a friend who appeared in Two Gentlemen of Verona when it went on to Cornwall. I hadn’t realised that the play was on at The Little.

I found myself sitting next to the playwright, Richard Heller (interviewed for Today last week). He was somewhat disturbed to find the political contributions he had received from radio listeners was more or less equally matched by the existential despair.

Sadly, although the play was mentioned in the Telegraph, The Independent and Newsnight as well as Today the audience was in the low 20s. Still, it was very well received, especially the speeches delivered by Lackey (a superb performance by Two Gentlemen’s Speed, Adam Macrae) culled (and reedited) from the words of the real-life Tonzzo and Gordo.